Why does Australia lack creativity?

Great article Elle and fair points made. My thought (be it rightly or wrongly) as I see it is a company’s lack of looking outside their particular industry for new talent and that is their greatest downfall when it comes to differentiating themselves from their competitors.

When reading job ads and after speaking with recruitment agents I have noticed companies have such narrow, stringent criteria that all they seem to be doing is cannibalising their own industry. So they hire a person from a competitor and instead of injecting new ideas or ways of doing things, they do exactly the same as they were doing at their previous employer. The only thing that changes is their office address and an increase in salary.

Ad agencies are the same. They too constantly pigeonhole people. Rather than looking at what a creative who has experience in B2B can bring to an agency with a focus on B2C or FMCG, they won’t even consider them. I believe that if you’re creative you should be able to come up with a great idea regardless of the product or service, whether doing a print ad in a trade mag for ball bearings or an app game for Heineken, it’s just that one isn’t as glamorous as the other.

Australia is a safe reserved country with their marketing and advertising and until we rattle the cage of conservatism, and companies and agencies take off their blinkers and look at what an outside the industry person can offer, we’ll continue to play catch-up with the rest of the creative world.

isn’t circus full of internationals because australian creative typess don’t want to pay $1500 to hear their peers talk about things they already know?

this article was one of the most meandering and illogical outpourings i’ve ever had the misfortune of reading

i think it stems from the authors lack of life experience – eg…”Australia is becoming multicultural”

Every agency in Australia is at least 50% Brits. Our current generation IS worldly-wise and multicultural. Perhaps you should talk to those many, many folks who have immigrated to Australia to work here why they did so, if it’s such a parochial place? I’m sure some of them just want to live in Bondi, but that can’t be the only reason.

Also, ‘global companies’ are, you know, global. Many of them have offices in Australia. And global, old, conservative companies aren’t necessarily the ones that are likely to take risks.

Australia lacks creativity? Garbage.

For every piece of anecdotal evidence you present to support this borderline insulting sweeping generalisation, researched pundits will be able to counter that with empirical proof that Australian industry has a fine history of innovation, creativity and success particularly measured against its rivals with bigger populations, budgets and geographical proximites to moneyed markets. Australian and to a larger degree NZ industry has consistently punched above the weights of their relatively small market sizes using invention, innovation and creativity, often the only resources at hand.

Take films. Australians make great ones overseas, but we can’t seem to make many here in Australia. That’s why the film industry runs at a huge financial loss.

One thing that kills creativity on a broad nation-wide scale is central planning. When I say central planning I mean socialism, where authoritarian governments control the aspects of production.

Australian industries such as education, film, and the arts are often heavily government funded and always heavily controlled by the government. Our television industry is also heavily regulated. The government thinks money gets in the way of creativity, so their answer is to throw money at these industries and regulate the shit out of them.

All they are doing is stealing vital creative freedom from artists and suffocating us all with taxation and bureaucracy. Protection, they’d call it! They could protect us better if they just got out of the way and let us be free.

Because you can’t be creative and take a wage.

I find that there are three main issues as to why Australia lacks commercial creativity:

1) Comparative to companies in other countries our marketing spend dollars are smaller relative to the cost of media/production. Which means that you very rarely have the opportunity to take a risk on a campaign as it needs to exceed.

2) Australia is one of the most legally stringent countries in the world in terms of what you can communicate from an advertising perspective (I even find that my US counterparts can get away with significantly more than I can).

3) Generally, I find that agency resources are becoming more and more constrained due to:
– The client’s spend
– Unrealistic lead times issued by clients
– The modern penny-pinching business model of most businesses, where they give employees unrealistically high work loads and shorter lead times and it as “optimal productivity.” (I find agencies are the worst offenders)

As a result they are more likely to propose something that they know their client will sign off rather than put the man hours in, push the boundaries and have the idea rejected.

This will change, as young Aussies are travelling more. That’s all it is… Travel is education and unlike our international peers, most Aussies are not too fussed about travelling after high school and experiencing the world. In recent years this has changed.

The multicultural factor is important too. Now… if only you could raise the question at interviews, “do you have any non-white friends?”.

Dr Mumbo,
Can you or a guest do a follow up article along the lines of “why business is so shit scared to be creative” I’m still waiting for a big company and rheir agency to produce something, ANYTHING that isn’t bland, polished and vanilla… Where the edge gone?

so IF we would nurture start-ups companies more that stimulated competition and took the old duopoly’s we that our governments and society currently worship we would potentially become more creative in our communication of such.

no shit sherlock

btw – did liked the writing and direction but you have to boil it down at some stage 🙂

note – got excited in my typing. meant to say ‘stimulated competition and took the duopoly’s ON

Australia doesn’t lack creativity, what we just have is a abundance of decision makers in marketing that are wet blankets and lack vision.

And nice points as well CP.

UK is broke.
Embrace you good fortune.
Embrace your Ozziness.
Embrace your hopeful future.
Embrace your divine climate.
Embrace your own brand of ideas.

Aussies lack creativity for many reasons but the #1 is The Advertising Industry is Racist, and #2 Sexist. Do the research 1.6% is of non Angelo Saxon and 7% women..Directors and above are 0% and 1.8%… If you never change you will never know innovation. If you are not authentic, willing to give change an opportunity or willing to think outside the square ,in your hiring practices or interns…Dont worry Aussies you can always return home and be around everyone that looks like you! If they are people of colour they already have there own $$ or a celebrity or athlete…from another country to be a “knight” in the chess game.

WAKE UP AUSTRALIA! LEARN FROM OTHERS. Something you have never done from business (manufacturing) to Politics learn the hard way ( that’s what convicts do)

There is lots of creativity in Australia.

Perhaps the correct question is why those people choose not to go into the advertising industry.

For one you have far more competition from other industries, due to the IT and Internet revolutions, than you had in the 80s or earlier.

For another thing, as pointed out, the industry has become inwards looking and a cliche. You are in or out and there is little in between.

I think this is an industry level issue, not a national issue.

@Yuan Freeman.
Hit the nail right on the head. Government funding is the biggest barrier to Australian creativity in the performing arts. That’s film, stage, television. Arts boards are usually made up of academics, social grasshoppers, retired politicians, wannabe bright-lights and double-talking legal watchdogs skilled at handling complaints.These boards appoint administrators who play by their rules, and often snatch the lion’s share of the funding. The rest of the cash is dished out to sycophants who know how to navigate the deliberately complex funding applications. Creativity is, and always will be, reliant on the confidence and security of minds that can fly free. One last whinge: Australian films lose money because there’s no kick-arse marketing budget to take on the killer Hollywood hucksters who know how to push their films into the front lines of publicity and promotion. Big is only better when you can afford to tell everyone it’s cool to believe it is.

Firstly, thanks @CP – absolutely agree. Yes, I made a sweeping statement, but when you have a word limit (obviously much to some of your relief!) it’s hard to say everything. So, it was easier to encapsulate the numerous reasons why I feel Australian creativity is stunted. @fraser @yuan also had valid points which all contribute to why Aussies are moving abroad for more opportunity. Even @Tiki – I agree (not with your outrage), there was some incredible stuff at the Awards, only I feel the government and business doesn’t provide a solid enough platform for the arts in general. Not enough funding, patronage etc etc. Back to @CP’s point “As a result they are more likely to propose something that they know their client will sign off rather than put the man hours in, push the boundaries and have the idea rejected.” is a very sad prolific output of that, that i think many of us, myself included fall into the trap of.

Honestly, really, this is nonsense, especially in the world of communications.

Australia punches way above its weight in global creativity award shows. Compare Australia’s success to European mainland countries – countries with a rich heritage of creativity.

Rather, Australia’s perceived lack of creativity is akin to Australia’s perceived laid-back, work 30hours and bugger off the beach life style. Fiction, a myth.

Rather, Australia loves and is passionate about creativity that drives to an outcome. Why do you think the Gruen Transfer is so bloody successful? And Australia works hard, strives, and is taking on the world. And you can see this reflected in Australia’s rise in the ranking. And the respect Australia now gets on the world scene. Australian experience now counts in foreign markets.

A much better barometer of creativity than who did talks at Circus.

Clients

People who have been around the Australian advertising industry for more than a few years will recall waves of foreign nationals hitting the industry at various times – like fads. Two decades ago it was the Americans. For a brief period about 10 years ago it was in vogue for Planners to have German accents. Currently there is a wave of British expats. Many claim to be here for “lifestyle” reasons. The other characteristic of the trend is that like hire like – and each nationality is biased towards their own (eg British MD appointed followed soon after by British Head of Account Service).

If Australian creativity is being called into question, then the question should really also be directed at the influx of expats. Why aren’t they producing the results? Hopefully they are not the second rate cast offs who failed to make it on their home turfs.

Looking at the recent Circus event, it seems the agency that wiped the floor was Clemenger Melbourne. And this agency seems to be well and truly up there with the best in the world. Last time I visited, there seemed to be mainly Aussie accents at Clemenger Melbourne – I think I heard a Kiwi accent in the mix too.

I’m feeling pretty relaxed about Aussie creativity.

Why does Australia lack creativity?… I have no idea… Why does Australia lack creativity. Here’s an idea… look at the government and ask, why is the government only investing a tiny amount in education? Why is the government only investing a fraction the NSW infrastructure.? The Government announced $36.4 billion over 6years… while the good friends at Telstra hint hint (NBN) turnover 12.2 billion in 1 year. Why is the government not pushing innovation… Why i have no idea…
But after watching Mrs Gillard get upset with Kevin and the Australian public not get a word in edgeways… i would say it time to change

We have too many government funding agencies. Imagine the availability of resources if we only had to deal with one National Government Agency. The other interesting fact is that when a person leaves Australia to gain international experience in the US or Europe where one acquires knowledge and experience that might well be of benefit to the creative industry, that person is no longer employable once they return to these shores. We have an immature creative industry with many projects rejected not because of their story telling brilliance, but because of the way funding is structured and geared only to those practitioners who have one or two screen credits. Screenplays should be funded based on the story – not a person’s creative history. Watch any TV Show or film made in Australia and the same people, companies have been granted funding. For the last five years the screenplays that have won best screenplay at the Oscars have been primarily from first time screenwriters – that just wouldn’t happen in Australia. We need a new business model and fast.

I think the ‘commercial’ bit in the festival’s name neutralises the ‘creativity’ bit that follows.

@Biz Tone… got it in one, methinks!

Australia doesn’t lack creativity.

There is a big attitude problem with clients, and it all starts with ‘university educated’ marketers. The client, or the ‘marketing manager’ used to be the person to take risks to seek out big ideas from their agencies that would get their brand noticed.

Today the average marketer is risk averse and sees advertising as a mechanism to ‘maintain the status quo’. There are brilliant creative minds here, but sadly more often than not, those minds have to decide, to leave for another country who will embrace their thinking, stay and go stir crazy seeing great ideas being canned in favour of ‘safe’ time after time, or simply just give up and churn our boring, safe advertising like clients want.

In our agency we have developed something called the ‘Idea Graveyard’, where big ideas go to die when safe, boring marketers demand ‘same same’. The Idea Graveyard has more amazing content and campaigns than our agency has ever publicly released.

In the rare occasion we have worked with a client who is willing to take the risk on a big, creative idea, it has always paid off for them.

@Jeremy well said….

@Elle It is really refreshing to see that an author can submit an article and remain objective about the minefield of responses. I actually really enjoyed the article, hence why I decided to comment (my first time).

I guess I’ve been (un)fortunate enough to work on both sides of the client-agency fence. When I first jumped the corporate monster fence, I thought I was going to change the world of client-agency relations – instead I probably did more of a Peter Garrett when he joined the Labor Party.

Reading a lot of the comments on MumBrella it seems clients are the ones to blame for everything that isn’t right in the universe. On occasions, I would agree with all of you too.

In my view, the problem is a lack of understanding – from both parties. Clients expect the world (albeit a conservative one) and agencies by in large do not understand the full extent of their client’s business operations.

One thing we have done is implement a shadowing exercise, where agency members will follow the day to day activities of one client team member for a week. The client will then do the same at the agency. The results have been fantastic on both ends, the quality of the work is better and less time being bogged down in pointless extra work i.e. account managers re-writing client briefs for their creative departments.

In short – I will take more risks in signing off more creative ideas, if you get where I’m coming from.

Right on Jeremy, its not just in advertising, its inTV land and the Film Industry. We really are risk averse and pay a huge creative and cultural penalty for being so. We talk big, but when it come down to it.. we are shockingly timid.

I have also worked on both the agency and client side of the fence. I absolutely loathed working agency side because I found that the high level of bureaucracy was creative poison. CP has it absolutely right when they mention “rewriting client briefs for their creative departments”.

As a client, I would much rather my money be spent on developing creative thinking than reformatting my brief (I can do that, just give me your template!). I think we have a long way to go in regards to working together. This will result in better creative outcomes.

The majority of clients aren’t actually creatively bankrupt (although some of you may beg to differ). Marketers often have similar skillsets to agency staffers, hence many of us having worked on both sides of the fence.

@Been there

Totally agree – once you go client side you’d be mad to go back to agency land.

In the following post, written (wow coincidentally) just two days before this one, the root causes are addressed, those being:

– POPULATION SIZE and
– XENOPHOBIA.

Period.

http://www.marketingfutures.co.....marketing/

Unlike New Zealand et al that has a different dynamic due to being oh so small, Australia is stuck in a “limbo” situation whereby it has enough people to have big brands here, but not a big enough population (and local cash flow etc) to produce great creative.

Another 20 million people will force Australia to stop behaving and being like a yokel caravan park that is all but completely disengaged from the Asia that surrounds it, as the second 20 million will come, and are coming, largely from Asia.

…As we are in Asia.
… Yes, Australia is an Asian country.
…Located in Asia.

It must get to 40+ million asap and it will do so eventually, so it may be worth sticking around if you are not a bleach-brained, stagnant semi-autistic monoculturist, or just a plain old charlatan copycat.

http://www.marketingfutures.co.....marketing/

Terms like “Emmigration” and “Parochialism” are surface behaviours not causes or drivers.

Regardless of what a brands might like to do about “providing for creativity” in some kind of pointless hero effort that’s suggested, the “platform” is still simply just not big enough so until the local economy doubles, it will be a complete waste of time.

Let’s get on topic.

@WRONG WRONG WRONG (but getting warmer?),

When I got here from Europe in 2009 (trying to help Oz get to the 40M mark) I was qutoe suprised that, in the context of my work -(digital. mostly client-side), there were few agencies that offered solutions and services to help companies make the most of the MASSIVE neighbouring markets.

Kinda off topic, but if Australia’s provincialism is the main issue then the solution isn’t so difficult: to open up and reach out to China, Taiwan, Singapore, etc….

And it’s not just a question of exporting Made in Australia (beyond minerals) but positioning Australia as a the ideal path for Euro / American businesses to reach into Asia.

This would require the creative industry to get Asia-savvy, though. Which isn’t impossible.

Speaking from both a Fine Art and advertising perspective, we don’t lack creativity, but the people in the position to make a difference don’t value creativity. The Government values Sport over Art of any type, and always has, and any attempt to combine these has been underwhelming to say the least. Funding for Fine Art is woeful. We have a commercial gallery system that may be cutting out some brilliant artists whose work is not seen as saleable enough by the owners of galleries.

Clients of Ad companies always seem to pick the most conservative approach to artwork, and are afraid of anything too ‘wacky’ or ‘out-there’. There are so few clients that will pick something less ‘classic’ when offered a range of choices, so agencies offer up more conservative approaches and the cycle continues.

The U.S. and the UK both have n obsession with excellence. Both countries have written countless books on the subject. We don’t do that. We don’t achieve and then share our knowledge for the greater good. We squander it.
This country’s brightest go overseas and stay overseas because they get jobs at real agencies that treat what they do seriously in the interest of their client’s bottom line. 99% of Aussie agencies do the opposite, they focus on their own bottom line.
Middle management on client side are risk averse. The Margaret Zabels of the marketing world are few and far between. Most other marketing execs are just interested in achieve a 2-4% incremental increase year on year. They don’t want to stand out. In short we just don’t get business and we have no balls.

Having said all that, I hear Nick Law’s talk was fantastic. He’s the Australian guy at RG/A yeah?

@Lawrence, good points you make there.

Agencies capable of offering regional services for Asian expansion will usually defer the work and earnings to locals based on the ground in those overseas markets – research, strategy and creative are almost always better if controlled locally.

Admittedly the spread of company locations throughout the region benefits overall integration and cultural exchange in the long-run, so it’s great when companies do take the initiative and brave the hurdles in their way.

Again the ultimate solution lies in making AUSTRALIA a massive neighbouring market for the even greater earnings potential of others wanting to come here.

Moreover, terms like ‘opening up’ and ‘reaching out’ are humanly constructs that ‘come from within’ – ie first we fix the Australia-based Australian mentality towards the growing ethnic numbers who already live here and are indeed set to grow exponentially in the coming decade.

Then we’ll be more connected to such countries by the natural exchange of psychosocial intimacy and overall internal and neighbourhood collaboration.

In the post Australia’s “cultural ditch” is mentioned which is the overarching issue.

@Vicki, Australia’s art situation is indeed a bit poorly, one must agree. This comes from both myself and my father being devoted artists.

However imagine thousands if not millions more appreciators of art living here?

The sad fact is that a lot of art truly isn’t saleable in Australia because there’s hardly anyone one here with the cultural intelligence or enrichment to notice or cherish it. THAT’s the problem, it’s not the current caretakers in charge – they just do what they know with what they have.

Thus population is suggested as the root cause of the problem: http://www.marketingfutures.co.....marketing/

The way things are at present Australia is stuck in a rut of “fire it up now”, “spam it out there yesterday”, and “keep it mainstream so we can aim at the biggest common denominator and get as much cash by next quarter’s financial report”… be it art, advertising, politics, cultural enrichment efforts, or what have you.

I’m personally in disagreement with the Chomsky’s of the world who believe sport is a complete waste of time, as I believe sport serves the purpose of replacing and thus preventing warfare – ancient violent urges still exist inside us -mostly males- which need to be vented somewhere.

But yes indeed you are right in that sport owns way way too much mind share in the public domain of Australia.

Italy thinks “Our deep, historic culture has a great sporting team that represents us”.

Australia thinks “Our great sporting team will help create a national identity and forge into existence a historic culture for us.” Standard young behaviour.

Again if there’s a population of 40+ million sport can’t dominate as much.

Hi Elle,

very interesting question, you could have switched Canada with Australia, and it would have still been up to the point. I am a German journalist living in Canada, and I often think my home country and Canada are opposites: Canada is large, has few people, only one neighbour and tons of commodities. Germany is small, really crowded, has dozens of neighbours and hardly any commodities. This means: While Canada can dig coal, or oil sands or potash, Germany needs to dig talents, educate, innovate. We are under constant pressure to innovate, engineer and sell, because there is no natural treasure that we can exploit. And having many neighbours means alternatives and competition. Complacency is impossible. In Canada there is a temptation for that, at least in the resource-rich Western part of the country. You only need to dig holes, and what you get out of the ground will earn you money in exports. In that sense, I see lots of similarities between Canada and Australia. Here is intriguing proof that people and their skills, as well as their mentality, are to a great extent products of natural circumstances. – Cheers, Markus

Art-wise Australia does have a very exceptional Aboriginal historical culture actually.

WOW! just look at the responses. This alone must say something about the original article, which in my opinion was very brave, very honest and deserving of thoughtful contemplation and reply.
Note that the knee jerk reactions tend to either support totally or vehemently oppose and denigrate. So it is on all contentious issues or issues that ruffle the feathers of ego or patriotism.
All criticism is good criticism if you take the time to think about it before either dismissing it or replying.

We do lack creativity in this wonderful country of ours, we have for some time. Many of the actors, the designers and the directors have fallen prey to the same monster as many of the writers; the great general rapacious monster of “professional industry standard tertiary educated financially viable politically correct accredited best practice ticked and national drama school approved standards” to give it its full title.
It is the result of a marriage between Cultural Cringe, which is the daughter of Inferiority Complex, and National Pride ll, the arrogant and poorly educated son of the True Blue, not the actual National Pride, which is a phenomenon much more dignified, exceedingly more intelligent and infinitely more aware of its purpose.

We should collaborate much more than we do, we point a finger at the class system of Britain (now largely dead and buried if you care to look) but when it comes to the arts, theatre and film in this country, we fence off large areas of the craft and industry and select it for elevation and class standing that frankly, it does not deserve. The opera world is a glaring example of this, but there are bigger and better examples in the film , television and theatre worlds generally.

We have contemplated our own navels for far too long, Australia is not the be all and end all, there are cultural stories to tell, fictional works to create, human conflicts to be explored, and not all of them need to be set in a quintessential Australian setting with politically correct indigenous references, historical detail (factual or politically remodelled) themes of anti royal, Aussie battler or larrikinism or against the background of breathtaking tourist shots.

We need to share ideas more, we need to work together more, rather than hiding in a corner protecting out precious little stack of scribblings and templates, most of which will never be produced. We need to discard this notion that actors and writers need to satisfy the opinions of so called producers and so called directors, many of whom know very very little about drama, comedy, writing acting or the theatre; and while I am at it, don’t overlook the so called casting directors, who rent a space and set up an inexpensive video camera, with the purpose of selecting the greenest peas and the plumpest potatoes, the longest and best shaped carrots for the soup….sorry…..Soap opera about to be cast by those mentioned earlier.

I firmly believe that we could grow rapidly as a force with which to be reckoned and develop an artistic pool of vibrant and highly employable ideas, if only we would get together and work. Stop asking for approval, just get writing , get producing, designing shooting and acting to produce films, let the approval come naturally, rather than emanating from a few over protected, over inflated and , frankly, clueless organisations, gurus and individuals who smugly consider themselves to be the industry arbiters.

With Respect,
Richard

That’s excellent, Richard. Very well said. Collaboration is always key in the creative process and until we all get over the concept of ‘idea ownership’ and just start creating like there’s no tomorrow, then obviously, the best funded, more established groups will flourish at the expense of true creativity within this country.
VOTE 1 FOR COLLABORATION!

Its all about belief. Australia has great talent but fails to believe in itself (as individuals and culturally) . The potential is enormousness. Australian creative talent is being pushed aside by a kind of elitism. Those in business and who control funding strings really aren’t in a position to make decisions. Its time for creatives to believe in themselves… stop following money trails and funding applications and apply themselves to their art. Get rid of elitism in art. It has no place. What is needed is a bit more bravery and integrity.

@Richard Moss – you’re right, it was about being honest and conversation provoking, although well aware of the controversial response it was likely to evoke, so thanks for noticing. I think there have been some absolutely spot on comments that have improved vastly upon my word limit to expand on the subject. ‘Brands’ which yes, I used in the loosest of terms, tend to hold the purse strings and for the sake of the article, for me are 9 times out of 10 the barrier to absolute creativity. And for those who shouted loudly that of course Australia is creative, I never said we weren’t. That would just be ignorant.

@Markus Gaertner good point too….and reiterated the point about being capable if allowed platform.

@CP, again, also having been client side and agency side, I’m happy if just one more client is more willing to sign off creative ideas.

@everyone – it’s been an interesting read so far….

It seems that most people agree that NZ is a creative hothouse… Would it not be wise to ask why that is?

Having worked in both markets I believe one of the reasons is that Australia is so competitive. Not knocking a winning spirit however how can pure creativity be supported and nurtured when the goal is the next big ‘win’…. Puts a lot of pressure on all involved.

I have worked in both Australia and NZ over a long period of time. I do not hold one country and its values above the other, but I am certain that the arts flourish on different levels and for different reasons in each. I will give my honest opinion about NZ as a creative and cultural nation.

To begin, It has the gigantic advantage of all things Maori. The cultural sound, sight thinking and expression of the Maori people is taught from primary school level and has been taught that way for more than 50 years. The Maori culture is interwoven with the fabric of NZ society and lifestyle. The other big influence in NZ has been a separation of the arts community and the business community which has seen (in days gone by) a strong development of arts and education, arts and local production, without the intervention of business interests wishing to dominate and finance artistic endeavour out of its established position in the scheme of things. Thus artistic input has a respected place at the table of negotiation, rather than feeling honoured to be invited to make a few bucks by becoming involved with the business moguls. In short , business people in NZ are less likely than their Australian counterpart, to see artistic endeavour as arty farty bullshit, or exaggerated drama queen behaviour.
I may be wrong, this is only my opinion gleaned from working extensively in both countries, and having done so over many years. This does not make my point of view correct, or majestic, but it does qualify me to hold an opinion of some value.

Pitching creative ideas (commercial films) towards those currently in power (bureaucrats) adds credence to that old clique about “pissin in the wind”.
Right now the whole system is rotten to the core.

Out of line comments from the author considering she is english and not Australian herself. Surely Elle has worked with many Australian’s living and working in his country, so what are you saying…. you have yet to come across a large number of Australian’s who are creative???

Hi @Samantha, not sure it’s out of line, as I reiterate again, at which point did I say Australian’s aren’t creative?? I choose to live here, it’s a fabulous country with lots of potential. Without going over it all again, plus all the comments, I am talking about the environment that somewhat stifles the ability the thrive….

“Rosanna Iacono knows her shit about brand.”

What a class act the author is.

Elle, if you had spent any amount of time in almost any Aussie agency, you’d realise it mainly comes down to risk averse suits or clients, not the creatives themselves.

To crack it as a creative in Australia means cracking it in one of the hardest markets in the world. Out of 3000 annual applications to AWARD school, you’d be lucky to have 5 working full time in a decent agency after 3 or more years in the business. My particular year has 7 locally, and 4 abroad. That was an exceptional year.

After all this, you end up with options.

You can make your life easy and follow the demands of (usually foreign) marketing managers / account heads, which are usually pretty crap on the whole. There are very few smart marketers here, and a hell of a lot of dumb ones.

You can keep chasing the pie in the sky locally while competing with ‘big name’ foreign creatives who (unfortunately) are too ‘one-dimensional’ for the local market and only good at executing other peoples ideas (or ‘strategy’ as it’s called overseas).

If you look at the stats, most overseas creatives are unsuccessful in Australia as they don’t have whole departments of thinkers (planners) and proper salesmen to sell the work for them. Our departments are far too nimble and lean for the majority, and often they’ll whinge about the ‘lack of creativity’ in this country without ever really making a mark on it. There are several very talented exceptions to this rule, but the majority prefer to complain than create, and often their ideas are very one-dimensional.

Another option is to head overseas where, to be honest, it’s just easier. Suits sell, planners can write good briefs, clients want great ideas and you have a whole network of people around you to help make it happen, which is why a lot of us end up all over the place – and do pretty well at it.

However I must point out, there are a few who are determined to make a difference in Australia, both from overseas and Australians as well. I won’t point out who they are and embarrass them, but agency of the year has a few that have never left these shores – all Aussie under Aussie leadership. There are also some who have chosen to make Australia their home and won award after award at the big shows, and led fantastic creative departments – without great suits, great planners or great clients.

And we should celebrate those, rather than condem the rest. Winning an award in an Australian agency, such as the Grand Prix at Cannes should be worth triple winning an award in a country where advertising is revered and respected, rather than reviled and tolerated.

Totally agree with ‘CP’ & ‘Some get it… some don’t.’

There are some AMAZING Australian creatives doing kick ass creative with the support of good suits, courageous clients and creative teams.

@Some get it… some don’t All very true….this wasn’t about condemnation it was more a lamentation of possibilities that aren’t realised through exactly the point around risk-averse suits and clients. I come across it a lot, through agencies and even client-side. I do it (as a little bit of my soul craves vodka chasers) as I know which fights are worth battling for and which you have to just give up on.

Some of my best friends are highly awarded creatives* both English and Australian who fret about whether great ideas will see the light of day or will be shoved into a safe place somewhere.

It was an observation of two locals, one with a big brand and budget and one without that led into a train of thought. I’d have written an article on the ‘celebrations’ sure, however it wasn’t really going to be worthy of Mumbrella space, or anyone commenting on.

*this is a joke, for those who are about to go up in arms at my language again @james, sorry for upsetting you with my colloquialism

Here’s the thing, see, “award winning” ideas aren’t that hard to come up with – most agencies can do it. Make something on brief that’s clever or funny and you’re in. But clever and funny ideas are rarely made – because they’re rarely sold in by confident, fearless suits. Freelance around the place and you quickly learn that the creative agencies are the ones with brave suits. Stop wasting money on expensive new creatives. To raise your creative standard, get better suits,

Coz we don’t give a hoot. Not about arts or government. We have a good amount of wealth and freedom not to have to. Free with out a doubt.